


5 times Bones worked and medicated himself through it ...

by oddegg



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-30
Updated: 2010-03-30
Packaged: 2017-10-08 13:05:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oddegg/pseuds/oddegg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the reboot kink meme, for the title prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 times Bones worked and medicated himself through it ...

1.  
When you're trying to study for your final medical exams with a crying baby in the apartment caffeine isn't 'medication', it's a _necessity_. Even when you start taking it as pills rather than in a brew.

 

2.  
His surgery rotation ends up being three states over. The Big Easy never lost its reputation as a party town and that just grew once it became one of Earth's space ports. And sure, Fat Wednesday's wild if you're out there grabbing beads but if you're having to deal with the cleanup of one more damn fight, or rape, or fall off a goddamn balcony then it's a different sort'a _wild_. Time off becomes a faint, bitter memory and he quickly learns which of the stimulant drugs in the pharmacy will keep him awake and functional without making his hands shake. Armaricilin was developed by combat medics nearly two centuries ago and is rarely used now, but it works like a dream. Quick pop of an ampoule behind your teeth and a little gush of anise flavoured liquid and you're ready to get back to the trenches and the next broken fucking body.

At the end of his stint in the city he's spent more time in the airtram shuttling back and forth from the hospital than he has at home, and he's missed Joanna's first word and her first steps and him and Jocelyn are only saying one kind word to each other for every three angry ones, but he's a damn fine surgeon – one of the best there is.

He's not willing to eat anything that tastes of aniseed for a long time though.

 

3.  
After that him and Jocelyn are tearing each other to bits slowly, with words and then silences, until they hand the whole shebang over to the lawyers so they can count him out for ten in their long, slow, expensive way. He works his way through it and if he has to self-medicate he does it the old-fashioned way, by god – with bourbon.

He ups his dose of that considerably once the dust has settled and he's left with no wife, no daughter, no self respect and no goddamn desire to stay on this miserable, piss-ant fucking planet any longer. He gets drunk, stays drunk for five days and then suddenly he's freakin' out on a shuttle and telling the beat up, blue eyed kid next to him that he may just throw up on him – he'd only remembered he hates fucking flying when he rolled up to the shipyard gates. The kid talks to him throughout the flight and to be honest he comes across as a bit of a dick, albeit a charming one. What the hell, he shared his bourbon with the guy anyway. For some reason the kid was calling him 'Bones' by the end of the flight.

 

4.  
'The kid' turns out to be Jim, and Jim turns out to be his roommate and – he thinks pretty much immediately – the reason he's gonna have to stock up on the caffeine pills again.

Jim isn't too bad in the end, though. Bones does have to pop some of those pills but that's more to do with the fact that he's studying the general Starfleet medical courses, plus extra xenobiology ones, as well as doing shifts at the teaching hospital to keep his hand in. Jim don't vexate him that much.

And anyhow, you can whack a stumbling-in-drunk-at-three-am roommate across the head to relieve your feelings. Can't do that with a crying baby.

 

5.  
And then there's space, and the Enterprise. And he hears from other Starfleet medical staff that with some ships the post of CMO can be so quiet it's almost purely a research one. Not on their ship though. Not with James T Kirk as their Captain.

It isn't that Jim's careless or that he goes looking for trouble – however reckless he is with his own wellbeing he's a mamma bear when it comes to the safety of his crew. But they'd gone and got a reputation for dealing with the more 'interesting' missions and that'd begun to mean they were first in the queue being picked for them. That and the fact that Jim might not look for trouble but it sure had a tendency to follow him round meant that their lives ended up 'interesting' as well, and he ended up acting as combat medic or a one man Centre for Disease Control more often than he'd like.

It's after their all-too-fucking long visit to Minomath that he starts carrying Armaricilin in his kit again and damn the taste of it. He knows that Ensign died from the blood loss and not the fact that the medic looking after him hadn't had any sleep for over sixty hours but that situation or one like it's going to happen again – _has_ happened again – and he'll die of sleep deprivation before he ends up standing at Jim or someone else close to him's funeral, knowing that it could have gone different if he'd just been more alert.

He tries to be proactive with his own shots too. Gives himself the vaccine against just about every disease under any of the suns if they have it; because what use is a doctor to you if he's lying in the next bed over, suffering from whatever it is ails you himself? He even gives himself shots against diseases that he's physiologically incapable of getting because he might still be able to be a carrier. Even if those shots sometimes make him feel sick as a dog it's worth it to make sure those non-humans under his care don't fall ill. With some of them there aren't enough of their species left to risk any harm coming to them.

He works through the sickness. Copes like he always does. Alone.

 

**and 1 time he gave up and let someone take care of him**

1.  
But sometimes, for all his precautions, something slips through.

For once the ship's quiet on the ship and he's just catching up on paperwork and inventory really, but the heavy cold he's come down with is making his head stuffy and his body achy despite the analgesics. Strange how they can travel round the galaxies and visit strange new worlds but beating the common cold still defeats them. But then, viruses are just about the pinnacle of nature's inventiveness and there's a bitch that's never liked to concede the game.

He rests his aching head against the glass of drug cupboard and its smooth surface feels cooler than it should do against his face, making him aware that his temperature is higher than normal. He sees a flicker of blue in the glass and knows even before he turns who he'll see. Spock is still in the doorway of his office, face stoic as usual, arms held loose behind his back.

The First Officer regards him silently for a moment and then says, "Dr McCoy. Expending your time and energy on menial tasks when you have contracted an illness is illogical"

Bones snorts and leans back against the cupboard, "Christine ratted me out, did she?"

Spock takes a few steps into the room and his eyes flick over Bones' face. Bones knows he's probably looking sweaty and a bit pale but Spock doesn't comment, merely tips his head in acknowledgement. "Nurse Chapel mentioned you appeared unwell, yes"

It takes familiarity with reading Vulcan non-expressions to tell what that flicker in Spock's eyes means, to hear the very slight tightening of the tone behind the dry words, "I do not believe that your current actions would be consist with the medical advice you would give someone else in your place"

Bones closes his eyes and feels how weary and shaky he is. He lets out a laugh that's more a cough and gives it one more contrary try, "Yeah? Well, I'm the CMO. That means I get to do as I do, not as I say"

A dry hand cups his cheek, and the fact that Spock's skin feels normal instead of a few degrees hotter reminds him again that he needs to take some antipyretics as well. He opens his eyes and meets Spock's, concern that he can't quite hide veiled in them. Spock says in a low voice, "Leonard. You are unwell and the most logical course of action is to rest and recover. Your staff are capable of running the medical bay in your absence and if you permit I will accompany you back to your rooms"

They stare at each other for a long moment and then Bones nods and Spock lets his hand drop. Now that he's given up pretending to be fine it takes more effort than he likes to drag himself back to his room, but Bones does it, Spock silent and contained beside him. When he gets inside he wavers for a moment but decides to just sit down on the bed for a moment before dosing himself up.

Mistake, he realises when the rest of his energy goes out of him and he starts shivering. Should have gone for the drugs first. But then Spock is there, quietly handing him some pills and a glass of water, and there's the quick hiss of a hypospray against his neck as he swallows. The scratchiness in his throat starts receding at once and he can feel the first tendrils of relief from the pills start to work against his aching head.

He smiles as Spock takes the glass back and puts it on the bedside shelf before kneeling to undo the fastening of Bones' boots. "Didn't realise you were into playing doctor, Spock"

Cool, dark eyes look up at him and there's a tiny thread of amusement in that deep voice when Spock answers. "I observe you often for a variety of reasons, Dr McCoy. It is easy to deduce the basic medical treatments for common illnesses"

Spock's hands go to Bones' waist and the Vulcan efficiently strips off Bones' uniform top as he rises. The shirt is folded and laid aside and then Bones finds himself gently pushed back onto the bed, rolled quickly off and then under the blanket. He closes his eyes again. He's very tired all of a sudden.

He can hear the slur of upcoming sleep in his own voice as he says "You been watching me, Spock?"

Eyes still closed, he feels Spock's hand begin gently carding through his hair, smoothing down the disarray the removal of his shirt had affected. Spock's voice is as soothing as his hand when he replies, "I watch you often, Leonard. For a variety of reasons. Memorising the correct medication for some conditions seemed advisable given that you often show an unwillingness to see to your own wellbeing. I prefer you being well"

It makes him smile as he slips into sleep. Such a damn Vulcan way of saying you care about someone.


End file.
